Most Shared

André Leon Talley on the 2012 Oscars Red Carpet

February 27, 2012 2:22 PM

Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom FordPhoto: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

1/9

Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom FordPhoto: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The liquid-gold-lamé Lanvin was not **Meryl Streep’**s first choice for her big moment accepting her third Oscar. As she swept into the Governors Ball later that evening, the most nominated actress in Academy Awards history told me that her first choice was a black dress: “My daughters said no to the black. Always listen to the daughters.” Were they right? Oh, yes they were. The dress, which had just a hint of train, shimmered on stage, and her makeup had a cast of gold. She looked so spellbindingly glamorous in true Hollywood style—and happy—gliding into the ball on the arm of her handsome husband, Don Gummer.

There was only one true best-dressed red-carpet moment: Gwyneth Paltrow in Tom Ford’s white crepe, asymmetrically draped column with a dramatic floor-length cape, which made her look, as did Streep, like she had made an effort to look different. “One fitting,” said Paltrow. When he showed her the first sketch, she added, it was the only choice. Her Anna Hu Haute Joaillerie pavé cuff was just what Tom Ford would want for the best look I’ve observed in a long time. Paltrow, with one entrance, has single-handedly redefined what red-carpet dressing should look like in Hollywood.

Esperanza Spalding was right up there in the top tier. Her big Afro and stunning white dress by Jeff Garner of Prophetik gave her an original look as she sang “What a Wonderful World” during the "In Memoriam" segment, which honored such giants as TV producer Laura Ziskin, who first got me covering the Oscars red carpet in 2007, as well as Elizabeth Taylor, and Whitney Houston.

Michelle Williams, pretty in gradating shades of Louis Vuitton tiered chiffon by Marc Jacobs, has a precise idea of what works for her silhouette and always looks terrific. I predicted on Friday that Viola Davis would wear Vera Wang (at the designer’s show during New York Fashion Week, the actress whispered to me, “My dress is beautiful!”). I was told people wept during her fitting, and she confided to me that her glam squad did, too, when they first saw the sweep of a dress in such a sumptuous emerald color. Davis already inspires many African-American women, but going to the Oscars with her natural short hair was a groundbreaking moment. Before the night was over, I received e-mails from friends who wanted to have their hair done just like her.

Cameron Diaz sized up gowns all over Paris during the haute couture. “This Gucci came in this week, and I decided it was the dress,” she said, showing off a bag with metallic fringe that matched her Frida Giannini nude silk strapless dress with metallic embroidery. “It’s all a process, you know.” Pharrell Williams, who collaborated with Hans Zimmer on the ceremony’s music, came in a three-piece Lanvin dinner suit with his fiancée, Helen Lasichanh. I had been hanging out with him at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, where we were both staying, checking out his square-cut Lorraine Schwartz ring and his special black trompe l’oeil boots with red shoelaces stenciled with a human skeleton of a foot. If there was a nod to old-school glamour last night, it came courtesy of Jennifer Lopez in a Zuhair Murad hourglass. In the past, she said her son has told her, “Mommy, that’s an ugly dress.” But not this time. Where are all of her great red-carpet dresses? “Some I had to give back, some I’ve kept, but I hope one day to have a great collection of beautiful red-carpet dresses.”

Two weeks ago, Rooney Mara tried on half a dozen Madame Grès couture dresses at Lily et Cie that everyone would covet (though few have the 20-inch waist to carry one off.) She was drawn to the shape of a midriff-cutout strapless, but less so the bright orange color. Instead she went with what she loved, a simple white lace column with a train by Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci. On the red carpet, I told her that with her bangs and quiet persona, she should play Edith Head on the big screen. “Tell that to the cameras,” she said. She wore one very small Fred Leighton vintage ring—no major bling always looks fresh to me. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie arrived at the last minute before the carpet closed. Her strapless Atelier Versace (with two diamond clips arranged on a draped section) looked almost like a dress that, say, Nora in the one of The Thin Man movies might choose for dinner and dancing in a New York penthouse setting. Black velvet isn’t a fabric you would associate with Jolie, yet she made it super-sexy with a huge slash, totally eighties Versace style, up the right leg. (Perhaps her striking a pose onstage was a bit overkill—it seemed she was trying too hard to be more than all that.)

At the Governors Ball, as I took the elevator to the ground floor to go back down the red carpet at 10:30 p.m., I found myself walking behind Jessica Chastain in gold-and-black strapless Alexander McQueen, with no wrap to ward off the evening chill. At one point, she raised her right hand up to the warmest spot on one of the portable heaters. Two million dollars’ worth of Harry Winston looked great, but what a shame that diamonds can’t keep a girl warm when she needs it.